United Earth Federation
Background The United Earth Federation, commonly referred to as the UEF, is the largest single government in Human history, spanning more than three quarters of all populated space. With a total population of 28 trillion people, of which more than half live on Earth, the UEF has struggled to maintain cohesion for most of its lifespan. Ostensibly, it is a representative democracy utilizing a form of government similar to the United States of America in the early 21st century, with executive, legislative and judicial branches having roughly equal power. However, politics in the UEF are heavily influenced by moneyed interests, especially lobbying from the Big 5 megacorporations. This directly precipitated the Solar Civil War, as many thought of the UEF as a de jure democracy with a de facto plutocratic oligarchy. Quality of life in the UEF varies dramatically based on income, with more than 30% of Earth's population living below the poverty line. Those rich enough to live on the Earth's surface, or on Mars experience lavish comforts only possible with modern technology and have access to highly advanced medical care. Meanwhile, those living on Earth's lowest levels or in the sparse parts of the Asteroid Belt exist in states of near-anarchy and absolute squalor. History The United Earth Federation takes its name from the first government formed by humans after the Warp War, an homage to humanity's collective will to cooperate in the era before the Neo-Earth Directorate assumed despotic control over what was left of mankind. The modern UEF was founded by an assembly of wealthy and influential citizens in the year 2192, during the height of the Dominion War and after the collapse of the Neo-Earth Directorate. After the initial structural changes were in place, the assembly voted on and elected the first executive cabinet and prime minister, who proceeded to not only broker a peace treaty with the Thrakk'l Dominion, but also establish a long-standing trade agreement with it that has lasted for over a century. Immediately following the dismantling of the old Directorate, riots and mayhem broke out all throughout Sol. The newly reformed United Earth Federation Navy was given its first mission: to suppress the social disorder. The suppression was brutally successful, the utter opposite of the Directorate's failed attempts to maintain control just before its fall. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and hundreds of thousands more arrested for political crimes. Though the mass violence ceased, the wounds, both physical and emotional, remained. Throughout the following decades, the UEF solidified into a monolithic power. As the social strata stabilized, Sol's corporations began to take advantage of the burgeoning economy. The government grew more and more corrupt and plutocratic, following in the footsteps of hyper-capitalist nations from centuries past. The mounting unrest was worsened exponentially in 2240 following the release of an independent investigative journal that exposed the ties between Sol's Big 5 and the UEF government, as well as the activities of those corporations during the Directorate's rule. This resentment finally came to a head in 2254, when the local government on Titan was officially denied the necessary resources to feed the rapidly growing population of residents living on Saturn's other moons, while UEF politicians gave themselves billions of credits in bonuses. A call to revolution was made, and secessionist groups throughout the UEF met on Titan to discuss their options. After forging an alliance, these groups began to wage guerrilla war against the Federation, marking the opening of the Solar Civil War. For the next decade, brutal fighting ensued throughout Sol, mostly concentrated on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and in space around them. Then, in 2263, a 100Mt nuclear weapon was detonated above Earth's surface. Millions of people died in the initial explosion, which wiped out over twenty cubic kilometers of the planetary ecumenopolis, and tens of millions more injured or sickened. The Rebellion categorically denied having anything to do with the attack, while the UEF government pinned the blame entirely on them. The fighting became fiercer, and for the next year, both sides of the civil war carried out terror attacks on the other, targeting civilian populations and production centers. Finally, in 2264, the war came to a decisive end when Saturn's regional government was toppled. The space fortress Calliope Station, which served as the planetary administration's base of operations, was attacked and occupied by the Rebel forces. It was the closest territory to Earth that the rebels had managed to seize, and the situation frightened Federation lawmakers. With their newly gained territory as a bargaining chip, the Rebels negotiated with the Federation government and were eventually granted independence, forming the Republic of Titan, or ROT, and its far administrative zone, the Outer Planets Alliance, or OPA. Almost immediately after the end of the war, the UEF came in contact with the vicious Krut, a species of huge, insect-like bipeds resembling 8 foot tall beetles. Initially, both the UEF and newly-created ROT intended to avoid further contact with the Krut, until the Krut invaded Lalande 21185, a resource-rich star system full of extra-solar planets that is connected to Sol by a jump gate. Unwilling to abandon the wealth of rare materials, the prospect of colonization and all the time and money spent building the jump gate and establishing a presence there, the UEF and ROT joined forces to combat the Krut, and have now been at war against the aliens for nearly 40 years. Since the 2270s, the UEF has stabilized at home, the constant war bringing great wealth to its industries, and the Federation's megacorporations are more successful than ever. Structure The UEF's government is split into three primary branches - the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. It is highly similar to the governmental system of 21st Century America, differing in the major sense that federal territories do not have the power to self-govern; all are ultimately beholden to the central government. The legislative branch consists of elected senators and congressmembers from across the Federation, which combined form the House of Representatives. Each territory in the UEF has a single senator, and a number of congressmembers proportional to its population. Elections for congressmembers and senators occur once every couple of years. The legislative branch is responsible for writing and modifying laws, confirming presidential appointments and overseeing the executive branch, levying and collecting taxes, and generally making high-level decisions that affect the entire Federation. The executive branch is made up of the Federation's President and Vice President, their personal aides and staff, their cabinets, the federal executive departments and all of the various intelligence agencies which report to the President. It is responsible for the day-to-day administration and enforcement of the law, for making "tie-breaker" votes in order to break stalemates in the house, for vetoing legislation that passes the House by a narrow margin, and for overseeing the military and making decisions related to national security. The judicial branch is the branch of government which is in charge of interpreting and applying federal laws. The Federation's territories each constitute a Judicial District, and each district is headed by a District Judge. Unlike the government it was modeled after, the Federation has no supreme court. Instead, it has The Chamber of Judges, an organized voting panel similar to Congress which includes all District Judges across the Federation. The Chamber of Judges adjudicates "cases and controversies"—matters pertaining to the federal government, disputes between territories, interpretation of the Federal Constitution, and, in general, can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions.